As the leaves drop from the trees and the firewood gets stacked for the season, it’s that time of year when thoughts of all shapes and sizes become aimed toward breast cancer awareness.

Right up there with so many maladies of the age, we all owe it to ourselves to learn more about the cancer that will see one in eight women diagnosed with it in 2017. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Time to encourage all women -- especially your friends between 40 and 49 -- to get those mammograms. Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer in claiming the lives of women.